Leo Maximilan Baginski, known as Max Baginski (born June 7, 1891, in Kolmar (now

Chodzież Chodzież () is a town in northwestern Poland with 17,976 inhabitants as of December 2021, seat of the Chodzież County in the Greater Poland Voivodeship. Geography Chodzież is located in the northern part of Greater Poland (western Poland), i ...

Province of Posen The Province of Posen (; ) was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1848 to 1920, occupying most of the historical Greater Poland. The province was established following the Greater Poland Uprising (1848), Poznań Uprisi ...

; died March 19, 1964, in

Locarno Locarno (; ; Ticinese dialect, Ticinese: ; formerly in ) is a southern Switzerland, Swiss List of towns in Switzerland, town and Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district Locarno (district), Locarno (of which it is the capita ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

) was a German

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea, or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

specialist. He invented the „Spalt“-tablet, an analgesic bearing a characteristic split-mark. He donated the funds for building the Catholic parish church of St. Katharina in

Bad Soden am Taunus Bad Soden am Taunus (, ), commonly known as Bad Soden, is a town and spa in the Main-Taunus-Kreis, Hessen, Germany. It had a population of 22,563 , up from 21,412 in 2005. Information Bad Soden is a residential town for commuters working in Fr ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Early life

Max Baginski was born as one of seven children of a mason and contractor. After the death of his father in 1897, he lived with aunt and uncle. After school he went to

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

, where he completed a mercantile apprenticeship. He quit his first job after six months and started his own business marketing a first patented invention, an all-purpose bottle cap. In 1912 he acquired the pharmaceutical firm ''Dr. Ballowitz & Co.'' in Berlin. While he served in the German armed forces during World War I, his companies were run by three of his sisters. In 1920 he married Katharina Stanke (1900–1982). The couple had three daughters and one son and lived during 1920er on island

Schwanenwerder Schwanenwerder (; English: "Swan Ait") is an island in the locality of Nikolassee in southwestern Berlin, located in a wider stretch of the Havel close to the eastern bank and adjacent to the Großer Wannsee to the south of it. The neighbourhood ...

Inventions

The big success of another invention, a massage device, enabled Baginski to expand his enterprise. In 1931 he teamed up with the prominent serologist

Hans Much Hans Much (1880–1932) was a German writer, and physician. References Sources External links * * 1880 births 1932 deaths German male non-fiction writers German medical writers {{Germany-writer-stub ...

(1880–1932) and founded another company named „Prof. Dr. med. Much’sche Präparate m.b.H.“, where the „Spalt“-tablet was created in 1932. After World War II, however, most of his production plants ended up in the soviet zone. Baginski himself was accused of having had employed forced labourers, arrested and sent to the

Buchenwald concentration camp Buchenwald (; 'beech forest') was a German Nazi concentration camp established on Ettersberg hill near Weimar, Nazi Germany, Germany, in July 1937. It was one of the first and the largest of the concentration camps within the Altreich (pre-1938 ...

. There he vowed to build a church, if he would survive. The Soviet authorities released Max Baginski in August 1948. From his enterprises only the ''Dr. Ballowitz & Co.'' had escaped disappropriation, but fortunately, this was where all his trademarks had been registered. This enabled Baginski to go on producing his articles which he did in

, a spa town some 15 Kilometers northwest of

Frankfurt am Main Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

. In 1953, a new factory of the ''Prof. Dr. med. Much AG'' started production and in 1955 Baginski fulfilled his vow by providing the funds for a new church for the town’s catholic parish, a new vicarage and a kindergarten that today bears Baginski’s name.

Death

Before his death in 1964, Max Baginski put his son Jürgen in control over the ''Prof. Dr. med Much AG''. Jürgen Baginski sold the company in 1972 to ''American Home Products Corp.'' This group, that changed its name to

Wyeth Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Inc. was a pharmaceutical company until it was purchased by Pfizer in 2009. The company was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1860 as John Wyeth and Brother. Its headquarters moved to Collegeville, Pennsylvania, a ...

in 2002, integrated the “Much AG” to its subsidiary ''Whitehall International''. The factory in Bad Soden was closed in 1993.

References

* Christoph Friedrich: ''Spalt. Festschrift zum 75. Jubiläum'', Whitehall-Much GmbH, Münster 2007 * Rudolf von Nolting: ''Geheimrat L.M. Baginski und sein Werk. Nach privaten Aufzeichnungen und Dokumenten'', Bad Soden a. Ts. 1993 * Joachim Kromer: ''Chronik der katholischen Pfarrgemeinde St. Katharina Bad Soden a. Ts.'', Materialien zur Bad Sodener Geschichte / 20, Bad Soden 1996 {{DEFAULTSORT:Baginski, Leo Maximilian 1891 births 1964 deaths People from Chodzież People from the Province of Posen Businesspeople from Hesse Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German businesspeople in the healthcare industry